Sam Bee talks about real March Madness – not on the basketball court, but in the seedy world of predatory private probation companies. Probation affects people with misdemeanors like traffic infractions and first time offenders. It is the poor who get snarled up in the system, especially when the system is private and for-profit.
Sam’s coverage of SENTINEL probation company shows what can go wrong when people are jailed for profit. In March, Sentinel promoted a March Madness campaign for employees to motivate them to bring in more money than is projected for the month, just as a retail store would do to boost sales. The letter advertising the campaign offers fun, prizes and monetary incentives to industrious employees! How do they bring in more money? That’s where you, your neighbor, or the downtrodden come in. Did you pay off your probation fees? No problem we’ll stick even more surcharges on, and have you jailed for non-payment! Can’t pee this month? Jail for you – but pay the fifteen dollars anyway! I suspect the average employee was too nasty to work for a collection agency or a fraudulent phone charity, but they’ve found a home in the probation biz.
Yes, they’re indefensible, and it certainly sounds illegal, but we’re all SOL because they lobby judges and the legislature. I can’t think of a more despicable and sleazy way of keeping the poor -just that way.